Sicily: In the lap of the gods...and the godfathers

Our elegant guide turned from the ruined Temple of Hera and gestured languidly towards a rich red sandstone building further along the Sacred Way.

'The Temple of Concordia,' he said, 'is one of Europe's best preserved Doric temples.'

Perfect in its symmetry and looking magnificent in the late afternoon sunshine, the temple shows just why visitors from all over the world flock to the classical sites of Sicily and why the temples of Agrigento are high on their list.

A taste of the past: The ruins of the Temple of Hera at Agrigento

Built by 30,000 Carthaginian slaves, the 5th Century BC sites are the star attractions on this remarkable island better known now as the poor man of Italy and birthplace of the Mafia.

Yet about 1,000 years ago Sicily was prosperous, with its capital Palermo on a par with Constantinople as a city of culture, beauty and learning.

Until it was united with Italy in 1860, this strategically placed island had been run by Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, French and Spanish.

So many people, so many backgrounds – the Greeks brought with them olives and low-growing vines; the Byzantines silk production and the art of mosaics; the Arabs irrigation systems and citrus fruits.

Skilled agriculturalists came too, as did Berber weavers, jewellery-makers, goldsmiths and other skilled craftsmen.

It was this blending of cultures that gives Sicily an intriguing architectural style and which accounts in part for the exotic jewellery, pottery and rugs exuberantly displayed in shops lining the narrow streets around the major sites.

Treat: Dymphna (second left) and some of her group enjoy an ice cream in Palermo

Although some Sicilian towns seem poor and threadbare, others such as Agrigento, Syracuse, Palermo and Cefalu buzz with visitors virtually all year round.

Taormina, with its magnificent position on a sea-facing slope of Mount Tauro, its proximity to Etna and its fine Greek theatre, is said to welcome about a million people a year.

But it is worth grappling with the crowds to visit Taormina. Stonemasons, builders, craftsmen and inspired designers have left a dazzling multicultural legacy.

The views are magnificent – the ancients certainly knew how to choose superb sites for their temples, theatres and castles – while dizzying switches in time keep you on your toes.

Sites with a cultural gap of centuries can be just a ten-minute walk apart.

As our tour party stood in Syracuse's wonderful theatre, where the sea used to reflect the sound of actors' voices back to the vast audience, it was easy to imagine the restrained drama of a 5th Century BC Greek play.

But minutes later, as we gazed into a Roman amphitheatre, a different drama unfolded.

We shuddered as we were told how the sand on the floor had to be changed constantly, soaked by the blood and gore of the gladiatorial combats favoured by 3rd Century AD Romans.

But no, an inspired Norman king, Roger II, commissioned them in the 1140s.

But there's no doubting the origin of the floor mosaics at the vast Villa del Casale.

With their depiction of vivid, snarling animals, gory hunting scenes, children playing, young bikini-clad women exercising and Emperor Maximian overseeing the loading of tigers, elephants and leopards on to an improbably small boat, they are pure Roman.

It's riveting stuff. I travelled to Sicily as part of a group of 20, ranging in age from 23 to 79, and we enjoyed six varied and action-filled days on the island.

At Cefalu we admired the cathedral's fine fresco of Christ, swam in the warm sea and wandered the narrow, medieval streets filled with souvenir shops.

In Noto we sat outside the Cafe Sicilia, founded in 1892, eating ice cream and granita (a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water and flavourings originating here) while admiring the impressive baroque architecture.

Birds were returning to roost in the isolated and atmospheric classical temples of Selinunte as, in the evening sun, we walked the deserted headland.

We took a ten-minute boat trip to the island of Mozia, an unregulated and gentle place of luxuriant vegetation, Phoenician ruins and, in the small museum, the armless statue of a handsome young man in his prime which greatly thrilled an art historian in our party.

Jewels: The 900-year-old mosaics at Palermo's Palatine Chapel

In Palermo, where ice cream was served in baps, we wandered around the local market and through shabby squares where stucco peeled from tall, forlorn houses, and we saw an electrifying marionette show, Il Teatro Dei Pupi.

Here, to the exhilarating strains of Carmen's March Of The Toreadors, knights from the court of Charlemagne, dressed in shining armour and brilliant plumes, sliced, beheaded and bashed Saracens, knights and monsters with noisy ferocity.

Run by the same family for five generations, this extraordinarily dexterous show is a treat not to be missed.

At Segesta, founded, some say, by survivors of the battle of Troy, the vast theatre once seated 3,000 people.

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Thrilled by the grandeur of the magnificent setting overlooking the Gulf of Castellammare, the drama teacher in our group gave a ringing rendition of one of Cleopatra's speeches, clearly heard and applauded by the 50 or so other visitors.

We enjoyed varied and delicious bread, had tolerable meals and drank good, inexpensive wine – Sicily is now well regarded as a wine producer. On our last day, when Mount Etna was shrouded in rainclouds and only the stalwarts in our group made the trip to the volcano, the rest of us went to Taormina.

There we sat, dry and cheerful, in a restaurant near the Porta Catania gate on the traffic-free Corso Umberto.

Grey skies may have hid the spectacular views but the antics of passers-by provided all the entertainment we needed.

As the rain pattered softly on the restaurant awning, we shared a couple of bottles of prosecco to toast the end of a marvellous holiday.

The cost includes return flights from Gatwick, bed-and-breakfast accommodation and all transportation.

Other group tour operators to Sicily include Voyages Jules Verne (0845 166 7003, www.vjv.co.uk), which offers 17 seven-night tours between March and November, priced between £876 and £975 per person on a half-board basis; Cox and Kings (020 7873 5000, www.coxandkings.co.uk) has four ten-night tours between April and October costing between £1,795 and £1,845 including bed and breakfast plus one lunch; and Martin Randall (020 8742 3355, www.martinrandall.com) which runs 13-night trips between March and September, costing from £3,140.